L.M. Montgomery – National Posthttp://news.nationalpost.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 13:24:35 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/bf69214e83fdd5520e4b5d91ba3b7d64?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngL.M. Montgomery – National Posthttp://news.nationalpost.com
Anne with an ‘e’ is coming to Netflix, CBC in new adaptation of the Canadian classic by L.M. Montgomeryhttp://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/anne-with-an-e-is-coming-to-netflix-cbc-in-new-adaptation-of-the-canadian-classic
http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/anne-with-an-e-is-coming-to-netflix-cbc-in-new-adaptation-of-the-canadian-classic#respondTue, 23 Aug 2016 17:18:45 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1189014

That unmistakable ginger orphan who stumbles upon teenage life in Prince Edward Island in the 1890s is set to ruffle a few more feathers as she makes her presence known worldwide in 2017.

Anne with an ‘e’ will make her Netflix debut in a joint production with the CBC on Anne, a TV series based on the Anne of Green Gables novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Breaking Bad writer and Emmy winner Moira Walley-Beckett will chart some new territory for the fiery teen in the eight-episode first season set to stream globally on Netflix and air simultaneously on the CBC next year. It will then be added to Netflix Canada at a later, unconfirmed date.

CBC announced that filming is scheduled to start this September in Ontario under North Country director Niki Caro.

Apparently Anne of Green Gables needs a dark makeover. Or so the CBC thinks. It is hard to see how it will do us, them or Anne any good.

We’re assured it won’t be Fifty Shades of Green Gables. But the author the CBC has chosen to create a modern version of the beloved classic, Moira Walley-Beckett, is noted for the great skill with which she conveys bleak horror.

She won an Emmy for an episode of television’s bleak Breaking Bad that many people consider the best in that series. And she is also acclaimed for the TV miniseries Flesh and Bone, a grim fictionalization of the world of ballet complete with tortured personal lives and a great deal of what she called “coercive, transactional, or self-destructive” sex. You know. The usual.

When the new Anne of Dark Gables project was announced, Walley-Beckett said, “I’m thrilled to delve deeply into this resonant story, push the boundaries and give it new life.” We feel no such emotion.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul ChiassonPrince Charles and his wife Camilla share a laugh with actress Katie Kerr portraying Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on Tuesday, May 20, 2014.

For starters, Anne of Green Gables doesn’t need “new life,” unlike the CBC. The story has been immensely popular since it first appeared in 1908 and tourists flock to Prince Edward Island to see the endless “Anne-related attractions” that Tourism P.E.I. proudly touts. As for “pushing the boundaries,” such a clichéd ambition implies the original story is stale, which is hard to reconcile with its enduring appeal over more than a century.

As this newspaper noted, Anne’s relatively minor comic misadventures — like dying her hair green — take place against a backdrop of bankruptcy, sudden death and, above all, the peril of rejection — by her classmates, the town, even her adoptive family. There is intense drama here. Otherwise the story would not be popular.

The modern mindset is far too prone to assume people knew nothing of life until we sophisticates came along and tore the hypocritical veil of decency and restraint off the cesspit of human existence. It does not grasp that throughout history, men and women have grappled with the darkness threatening to engulf them, and that the distinctive mark of modernity is abandoning the hope of escape, not discovering the peril of entrapment.

If Anne of Green Gables was so naive, goody-goody and out of touch with reality that it needed a “gritty reboot,” it wouldn’t be worth revisiting. One should simply create a fresh story with genuine depth, resonance and really bad sex.

LYNN BALL/Postmedia NewsA 1919 poster of Anne of Green Gables.

If, on the other hand, it is so marvellous that millions of people continue to come from around the world to P.E.I. just to see where Anne’s story is set, and eagerly await the time their children are old enough to share this treasure from their own childhoods, it won’t be improved by darkening it, transvaluing it or otherwise spray-painting the lily.

According to Walley-Beckett, “Anne’s issues are contemporary issues: feminism, prejudice, bullying and a desire to belong. The stakes are high and her emotional journey is tumultuous.” Well, yes. People knew all about that sort of thing 100 years ago and more. They don’t need didactic lectures from us. And to imagine that Lucy Maud Montgomery couldn’t possibly have shared our luminous grasp of her subject matter is to show that we do not understand why Anne of Green Gables became a classic in the first place.

The original story is not naive, saccharine or mindless. Anne is not Dora the Explorer. She encounters heartbreak, malice and fear. But she encounters them in a way that is ultimately redemptive. If the CBC misses this point, the remake will amount to petty vandalism.

If so, it won’t really hurt Anne. But it will betray her audience and damage the vandal in public esteem.

Anne Shirley lives. Despite countless translations, darker prequels and an upcoming modern update, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s story of a plucky red-haired orphan in rural Prince Edward Island still wields considerable power in its original form.

On Monday, Google celebrated what would have been the 141st birthday of Lucy Maud Montgomery, known for penning one of Canada’s best known books, Anne of Green Gables. The century-old story set in rural Prince Edward Island still holds sway over 21st century readers. After all, Lucy Maud Montgomery was trending on Twitter for hours on Monday morning.

For the uninitiated: Anne of Green Gables follows the story of a red-haired orphan who is mistakenly adopted by an older brother and sister who were hoping for a boy to help them with the farm. High-jinks ensue, but Anne wins over the pair, as well as the rest of the small town, despite her chatterbox ways and eccentric imagination.

Readers have purchased some 50 million copies of the children’s novel, which has been translated into dozens of languages.

The world’s endless appetite for Anne has spawned sequels written by Montgomery, but also countless re-imaginings by other writers and everyday readers. Here’s a look at how the story of a plucky orphan has been adapted, re-written and re-imagined over the years:

Anne and Japan

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEKkUEawGZI&w=640&h=360]

Anne of Green Gables spoke to Japanese readers when a translation of the novel was published in 1952, immediately sparking a decades long love affair of the orphan and several anime iterations.

The modern update

In 2012, Breakthrough Entertainment announced it was working with the descendants of Lucy Maud Montgomery to create a television series that follows Anne Shirley in modern-day P.E.I. It will air on YTV early in 2016.

A (darker) beginning

For the hundredth anniversary of the novel, the descendants of Lucy Maud Montgomery authorized a prequel, written by Budge Wilson, and based on the Anne’s less than rosy life before she came to P.E.I. Even the author of “Before Green Gables” knew she was taking on a big task. She told Reuters, “There would be people for sure who would want people who want to tear me to ribbons.”

The even darker prequel, starring Barbara Hershey

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olxt0MJHwkk&w=640&h=360]

In 2008, Sullivan Entertainment released a TV prequel, in which a middle-aged Anne (played by Barbara Hershey) is a successful, but haunted writer who returns to Green Gables and reflects on her long-buried memories from her pre-Green Gables childhood. Diehards derided the reboot for straying so far from the original stories and injecting darkness (carriage crashes! a n’er do well father! an evil matriarch!) into a series known for its sunny outlook on life.

Fan Fiction

Anne fans are pretty prolific in the fan fiction department, filling up the corners of the Internet with stories devoted to Anne’s experiences with postpartum depression or Anne and Gilbert’s romance (some are not as … chaste as the originals).

Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of The Island were self-published through Amazon’s CreateSpace platform in 2013 using the public domain texts. The Internet was enraged by the cover art. Instead of the red-haired heroine twitted for her carrot-coloured lock and freckles, the e-books featured a modern blond with come-hither eyes. The cover has since been removed but the many, many one-star review remain with titles such as “WTF?! Anne is a redhead. Get it right” and “Aaaah, my eyes are burning!!!”

To commemorate what would have been the 141st birthday of author Lucy Maud Montgomery today, Google has honoured her with a Doodle, which is quickly becoming a rite of passage for many artists and writers.

As the beloved author of Anne of Green Gables, which was published in 1908 and remained a childhood staple ever since, Montgomery was born November 30, 1874. She wrote 20 novels, as well as hundreds of short stories, poem and essays, and is considered an iconic Canadian writer, with most of her stories set in P.E.I., her hometown.

Prince Edward Island’s Anne Shirley is about to make a comeback in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, a new two-hour original movie that will debut on YTV in early 2016.

Steve WilkieActress Ella Ballentine will be taking over the role of Anne Shirly, with L.M. Montgomery’s granddaughter Kate Macdonald Butler executive producing.

Now in production from Breakthrough Entertainment and Corus Entertainment, the movie will be shot in several locations throughout Canada. Based on the classic novels, the film has been reimagined by Montgomery’s granddaughter, Kate MacDonald Butler who serves as an Executive Producer. John Kent Harrison (The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, The Lois Wilson Story) will direct, based on a script by Susan Coyne (Slings and Arrows).

Anne of Green Gables is an iconic work of Canadian fiction, selling over 50 million copies worldwide since it was first published in 1908. It follows the adventures of the imaginative Anne as she is taken in by the hard-nosed Marilla Cuthbert. The eight Anne of Green Gables novels and 1985 CBC television movie adaptation, set in Prince Edward Island, have garnered generations of devoted readers who grew up with the plucky young adventurer.

“We are thrilled to bring such a time-honoured and treasured Canadian story to YTV that parents can enjoy with their kids,” said Jamie Piekarz, Director of Content, Corus Kids. “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne will inspire a new generation of kids with the timeless message of being true to oneself and become a new classic for audiences in Canada and worldwide.”

Related

Nabbing the starring role as Anne Shirley is 13-year-old actress Ella Ballentine, who has had supporting roles in The Calling, The Captive, and TV’s Reign and Saving Hope. Ballentine has big shoes to fill, as the former indelible freckled face of Anne was actress Megan Follows, who played the title character in the 1985 adaptation, also starring the late Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert.

“From the inspired casting, the tender script and its eloquent adherence to the story of Anne Shirley, my family is so proud to be associated with bringing Breakthrough’s film adaptation to a new generation of viewers. L.M. Montgomery was my grandmother and I think there is no doubt that she would be very proud too,” said Butler.